Road funding folly I've been sunning myself in Portugal recently
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but it wasn't all cheap beer and getting sunburnt by the pool— I also had an enlightening chat with a local taxi driver about road tolls.
It seems the Portuguese government, faced with the problem of not having any money, decided to whack a charge on the main motorway running through the Algarve the A22) to cash in on all the tourists and the freight traffic crossing the border into and out of Spain.
The net effect was that everyone living in the area decided to boycott the toll, Leaving the country with an empty motorway and clogged-up local roads.
Back home, we now have an equally crazy situation where paying £18.60 for the pleasure of getting into Wales via the Severn Crossing will now fund a relief road for the perpetually struggling M4 in the principality.
you like it or not!
If you're going to make people pay for a service, they normally expect something in return. But hauliers already pay for the roads, bridges, and tunnels via the traditional means of tax, be it VED, income tax, corporation tax, or VAT.
I'm not saying there isn't a need for a relief road in the area, but this seems Like rather a roundabout way of funding it. Isn't there a fairer way?
Christopher Walton